Cover Note for COVID-19 Accelerated Funding Request
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Cover Note for COVID-19 Accelerated Funding Request OVERVIEW Country: Kiribati Grant agent(s): UNICEF Coordinating agency(ies): DFAT Kiribati COVID-19 Education Sector Program name: Preparedness and response COVID-19 Accelerated Funding amount requested: USD 750,000 Agency fees amount (additional to COVID-19 Accelerated Funding USD 52,500 amount requested):1 Agency fees as % of total COVID-19 Accelerated Funding 7% (HQ cost recovery) requested: COVID-19 Accelerated Funding application date: 9/30/2020 Estimated COVID-19 Accelerated Funding program start date: 11/1/2020 Estimated COVID-19 Accelerated Funding program closing date 4/30/2022 (must be last day of the month, e.g. June 30, 2021): Expected submission date of completion report 10/31/2022 (At the latest 6 months after program closing date): Sector Pooled Grant modality - (please enter ‘X’) Project Pooled/ Co-financed X Project/ Stand-alone 1 General agency fees are additional to the Accelerated Funding amount requested, and determined by the grant agent’s own internal regulations. They are paid to the agency’s headquarters and relate to overhead costs and are typically used to assist in the defrayment of administrative and other costs incurred in connection with the management and administration of grant funds. These fees are pre-determined in the Financial Procedure Agreement (FPA) between the grant agent and the GPE Trustee. KIRIBATI Application to Global Partnership for Education COVID-19 Accelerated Funding Window for Emergency Response September 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 2 2.Situation Analysis ............................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Country context .................................................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Education context ............................................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Context for remote learning ............................................................................................................. 14 3.Education SECTOR CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR COVID-19 IN KIRIBATI (ESCP) ........................ 16 3.1 Overview of ESCP .............................................................................................................................. 17 3.2 Education sector COVID-19 Response Coordination ........................................................................ 19 4.Rationale for the GPE AF application ................................................................................. 21 5.Proposed Areas of Intervention ......................................................................................... 22 5.1 Alignment of GPE AF with ESCP ........................................................................................................ 22 5.2 Results Framework............................................................................................................................ 22 6.Strategies ......................................................................................................................... 25 7.Implementation and Financial Management ..................................................................5251 7.1 Selection of Grant Agent and Coordination Agent ....................................................................... 5251 7.2 Roles and responsibilities of various actors .................................................................................. 5251 7.3 Financial Management, Procurement, Auditing ........................................................................... 5554 7.4 Implementation arrangement for rapid-start-up ......................................................................... 5655 8.Monitoring and Evaluation ............................................................................................5756 8.1 M&E framework ............................................................................................................................ 5756 8.2 M&E Coordination ........................................................................................................................ 5756 8.3 Stakeholder Review and Evaluation.............................................................................................. 5857 8.4 Learning from Evidence ................................................................................................................ 5857 9.Implementation Plan with Timeframe ............................................................................6261 10.Budget.........................................................................................................................6362 11.Risk Mitigation Plan.....................................................................................................6463 Appendix 1 - UNICEF Financial and Procurement Rules and Regulations ............................7372 Page | 1 1.INTRODUCTION Kiribati is a small island state located in the central Pacific Ocean with a population of c. 110,000 people, with some 40,000 children aged between 2 and 17. As a nation of twenty-three atolls and one island spread across 6,300 km2 of the Pacific Ocean, with inhabitable islands covering some 811 km2, the distance between islands, creates both daunting challenges and numerous opportunities in the delivery of education and other services. The arrival of COVID 19 in the Pacific has exposed Kiribati to a new type of threat and highlighted vulnerabilities and risks from remoteness, capacity, technology, and resourcing to respond to such an unpredictable challenge. The Government of Kiribati took steps to minimise the effects and impacts of COVID-19 using a whole of Government and whole of society approach. The Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) introduced travel restrictions and surveillance from January 2020. In March 2020, Kiribati closed its international borders to all travellers and airlines as part of its intensified prevention measures. On 26 March 2020, a “State of Public Emergency” was declared by the President. A partial lockdown was put in place which required schools to be closed for three weeks until further advice guided by the status of the country’s alert level was issued. The partial lockdown followed the WHO and National Guidelines for COVID-19 preparedness and response. Laboratory test results of persons under investigation from the last inbound flight from Fiji were released to the public in April 2020. There were no positive cases of COVID-19 found nor confirmed in Kiribati. On 8 September 2020, GoK has officially declared a further extension of its border closures until the end of December 2020, except repatriation flights for Kiribati nationals who are stranded abroad. The Office of Te Beretitenti, in its capacity as the National Disaster Management Office, led the compilation of the National COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan (NC19PR) through the collation and consolidation of nation-wide COVID-19 needed actions and their cost estimates. This multi-sectoral plan embodies the Government’s administrative framework in which Cabinet plays an oversight role in imposing preparation, response, and recovery policies to the COVID-19 crisis. The framework lays out a broad overview and outline of how the Government, as a whole, is orchestrating collaborated efforts to prevent the arrival of the COVID-19 in the country and prepare itself for the worst-case scenario (in case it arrives). The implementation of the plan is coordinated at Secretary level through relevant Ministries clustered into COVID-19 Secretaries’ sub-committees that have been established to address concerns in most vulnerable sectors and coordinate efforts in those that play critical roles in preventing the disease from reaching Kiribati, containing it (if it arrives) and mitigating its social-economic impacts. The sectors are: healthcare preparedness and outbreak prevention of COVID-19; public awareness and communication; commodity and food security; education; transportation and border management; public service; safety and enforcement; and social welfare and financial support. The National COVID-19 Page | 2 Preparedness and Response Plan is formulated to address three possible scenarios: 1) preparation - when there is no COVID-19 case, 2) response - when confirmed COVID-19 cases or economic impacts are present in the country, and 3) recovery - when the outbreak of the disease has declined substantially. Following the development of the national plan, Ministry of Education (MoE), through technical and financial support from UNICEF, developed a contingency plan for COVID-19 which specifically focused on education sector, in alignment with the national plan, to ensure that education system is well prepared for possible closure of schools and adequate on-going support is provided to students during school closure and after reopening of the schools. The plan was presented and consulted at EpiK meeting held on 8-9 September 2020 and GA and CA selection was endorsed at this time as well. Both the contingency plan and GPE AF application proposal were and was endorsed by all members of LEG through email communication between 28-30 September 2020. Page | 3 2.SITUATION ANALYSIS 2.1 Country context Kiribati is one of the most remote and geographically dispersed